Egg On
by Koten123
Summary: Mason Cleet is starting his journey, but with a pokemon he'd rather not have. What he doesn't realize is that training is more dangerous than the romanticized stuff on T.V. Training is dangerous and difficult, and he's going to learn the hard way. To make things worse, Mason's feelings are bending all out of wack. An Adventure filled tale, filled with a mature outlook on pokemon.
1. Chapter 1

I was truly afraid. I had thought this moment in my life would be exciting, truly mystifying, but no I was scared shitless. All my life I dreamed of getting my first pokemon, the adventures we'd go on, and the achievements we would make, but at that point I didn't know if I could handle it. I would find out on my journey, that I was so close to being right on too many occasions. I looked at that towns, Mistia, professor, Jacqueline Richardson. "Mason Cleet." I finally found the strength to stand and stroll up to her. She gave me a reassuring smile and handed me a small laminated card.

"This is your trainer's licence. It's very important so take good care of it." It gave a general description of me. My hometown of Mistia, Otomah and other things like my age, height, and weight, and a place with eight stamps because I decided to take the gym challenge. "As you know we have randomly picked your pokemon, so here it is. This is your first pokemon and you should know this is a big responsibility." Her face suddenly turned serious. "Now here." She handed me the ball. I gott a feel for it; felt the warmth from the heat of the pokemon inside of it. I could hardly believe that a life of something else was now my responsibility. I gave Professor Richardson a long look and then thanked her. I'm glad that I thanked her sincerely; this pokemon would come to be one of my closest friends.

I strolled outside and released my pokemon. I was hoping for something that was going to end that apprehensive feeling in the pit of my stomach. The bright light of the pokemon flashed and I stared.

"Happiny!" The little thing said a little too excitedly. I cringed outwardly. _'__There is no way they gave me a happiny_._'_ Was my first thoughts. But no it was there, standing in front of me with it's pink body. She stared at me with eyes of curiosity. I picked her up and looked at her with a slight distaste.

"What the hell is this?" Was the first thing I said to it. I'm glad she didn't understand me at the time because I would be heart broken to see her reaction now.

"What am I going to call you?" I thought for a little bit and finally came up with an idea. "How about Shelly?" She smiled and handed me her rock from inside her small pouch. I took it and felt it; it was very smooth and I could tell it wasn't a regular rock, this is a smooth stone, I mistakenly called it. "I wonder why they gave you this?"

Mason shrugged and put her back down. "I guess it's you and me." Shelly didn't understand me at that point, she just smiled and ran around. I sighed, I was even more terrified. My confidence in Shelly was low; my confidence in myself was even lower. I think now, I've come to really appreciate what Shelly would mean to me and what she means to me now.

We walked until we made it to the dividing line between Mistia and route 16. I looked at her with the upmost disgust, but she smiled sweetly back.

"Ok let's go."

* * *

Route 16 was probably the most annoying thing on my travels. There are no trees whatsoever, so the sun pounded on my face and sweat formed on my brow, my pokemon lagged because of the heat, and I was a new trainer, completely ill prepared for the situation.

"Keep up." I muttered, but the thing, what I had begun calling it, barely understood English; I would have to eventually incorporate english lessons in my training with her.

We had our first encounter with pokemon a little while later. It was a small snake on the side of the road. It slithered silently, I barely even noticed it until it lunged at my pokemon with its red fangs. I ran up in front of Shelly and received a bite to the leg.

"Sssseviper." I hissed. I could tell it was young because of the size, but my mind ran with thoughts of my near death by poison. I was acting frantic; it's funny, really, how I overreacted.

"Shelly do something!" Shelly at least _seemed_ her name, or at least my yelling, and looked at the small snake. She didn't show fear and she poked it in the side. The snake quickly let go of my leg and slid towards my pokemon; seviper lunged towards Shelly's midsection, for the stone I always though, maybe mistaking it for an egg of some sort.

Shelly lunged out her arm and punched the snake in its face. I stared in slight disbelief; _'This thing can actually defend itself.'_ I remember thinking.

"Pound. POOUND." I said slowly, hoping she could pick up what it meant while in battle. I'm not really sure if she was actually listening, but she kept on hitting the snake in the face, it didn't seem to do much, but Seviper couldn't do much to stop it because of its size, it was about the same size as my Happiny.

Finally, after much wasted time the snake keels over knocked out. My eyes opened wide because I did hardly nothing and she had won her first match against a wild pokemon.

"Good job." Shelly didn't respond and begins walking once more with curiosity in her eyes. I sighed I could already tell this was going to be a long journey.


	2. First Battle

**Ok I realize there wasn't an Author's note on the other chapter, so I'm here to put one. I hope everyone enjoys the story and I do realize I made a mistake with the stone, it's not a smooth stone it is an Oval stone, so I am making that correction.**

Nothing had been exciting thus far. The grass had been never ending and Shelly got tired and stopped moving. I had to carrying her because she refused to go in her pokeball at the the time. She's much heavier than expected, but her weight wasn't something that's really worrying me. I was not _that_ scrawny.

I wished there were some other trainers on the route. I knew I wasn't the only who started that day and I was expecting more than grass. The lack of shade from the trees made things quite unbearable because the sun is pounded on my head and my forehead glistened with sweat. The most exciting thing that had happened so far was the encounter with the Seviper and that was a huge mess.

_I found out that the bite did much more than I expected. My leg was bleeding a little and I had to deal with that soon after I continued walking. It was funny to see Shelly react because she was so determined to help me, but she couldn't even get the bandage around my leg because her hands were too small and stubby. I laughed and she got quite upset with me and retaliated by throwing the bandage wrap at my head. I still continued to laugh and she laughed also, but I'm sure she didn't know why._

I saw the first sign of someone a little further up the route. He was in the bushes and it obscured the view of his face, so I didn't know what to expect. He wore dark jeans that were covered in leaves from the bush. His blue jacket was on the ground and he had on a red shirt and hat. I felt kind of like a creeper just examining him, but I was just glad to have some human contact.

Shelly stirred in my arms and managed to get free from my grasp. "No!" She didn't listen and went on to repeatedly punch the boys leg. I rolled my eyes; it seemed like she thought everything I said was pound.

The boy turned around with a not so upset face like I would expect. He was very calm as he moved his white scarf from his dirty face.

"I'm so sorry?" I said a little confused because it didn't seem like I should apologize. He smiled though which is a nice surprise.

"Oh it's fine." He bended down and tickled one of Shelly's cheeks; they turned ever more rosy and she giggled. He looks back up at me and he smiles. "This is a fine Happiny you've got." He looked at my pokemon one last time. "Happiny aren't normally seen in the wild, and though they aren't the most powerful pokemon, they are very useful because of there healing abilities they will have in the future." He told me almost poetically. He was like a human pokedex and it fit him perfectly. I actually didn't know most of anything about Happiny and I felt a little more proud of my pokemon.

"Well thank you for the information." I responded genuinely. "My name is Mason Cleet." I extended my hand down towards him.

"Lucas Ironheart." He wiped off his jeans and gets up; he stood only slightly taller than me. He took my hand firmly and shakes. "Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you just started." He glanced down at my pokemon once more.

"Yeah I did, just today actually." I rubbed the back of my head and closed my eyes with a smile.

"Yeah, I remember my first time starting in Sinnoh." Sinnoh that's further east than here. "I'm here on some travel work for the professor. He wants me to get out and travel, but also gather information." I nod.

"So are you like an intern?" I questioned.

"No no... hell no actually. The professor is a good friend of mine and I need a break from the norm, so I decided to hit two pidgey with one stone." He said.

"Oh, ok." Things started to get awkward, but I was starting to enjoy some human company. "Hey you want to battle?" His smile spread even wider.

"I thought you'd never ask and I just got a new pokemon, most of the old team is at home, so that puts us on a more even slope." I nodded in relief because I didn't want to get crushed on my first pokemon battle. I suddenly remembered who I have to start with and I'm not feeling so confident. Lucas was experienced from what I gathered and I just started, with a Happiny. "Don't look so worried, I've never been that good of a battler." He took out a pokeball. "And plus this is my first time battling with this girl." He threw his ball and caught it expertly.

The pokemon is also pink, but it had brown ears, a pudgy tail, and a small curly bang on top of its head. "Cleffa." It said cutely. Shelly was happy to have someone her size to play with because she quickly ran towards the poor thing. Cleffa didn't know what hit her because Shelly punches her in her face, sending it toppling over, but she doesn't look upset at all.

"Shelly!" The egg pokemon recognized her name and ran back towards me. "I'm sorry, she seems to love punching things, a lot." I stammered. "It's something we are going to have to work on." I glanced down at her with a look of disdain.

"It's fine, but you should really watch her, that could get her in a lot of trouble." He advised. "So let's get this started off right." He walked backwards a few feet and than took a determined stance. "I'll let you go first for beginners luck."

"Ok Shelly POUND!" I shouted the command and punch towards the air. She got the message and ran towards the opposite pokemon and landed a punch, but it is retaliated with a pound. They continued to hit each other; it's starting to seem like the battle with the seviper. Cleffa got the upper hand, however, and uppercutted Shelly in the face. She tumbled to the ground and didn't get back up.

My world came crashing down because I realized I have lost my first battle when Shelly doesn't get back up. I sadly returned her and hung my head in shame.

"Hey it's ok, I lost my first battle too." He smiled brightly at me. "So where you going?"

"Persia Town." I said pointing east word.

"Good Me too!" He exclaimed, he yanked my arm and led me down the road to the next city.


	3. Caught in the moment

**Author's Note: OK this is the third chapter. I am happy that I am getting this typed and I have some readers, though you guys might be afraid to review, I'm just glad to have readers. And yes, this Lucas is the canon game character, but this is my interpretation of his family.**

Lucas has been good company. He's funny and he's insanely smart. He helped me with the wrong word I was calling the stone they gave to Shelly. It isn't a smooth stone it is an oval stone. He laughed so hard when I called it a smooth stone, but then promptly corrected me.

The air is humid, but the temperature has gone down. I no longer wish for the day to be over and I actually have a happy outlook on this journey. Lucas and I conduct some small talk.

"So how many pokemon do you have?"

"I have three. My Cleffa, as you know, and two other pokemon." Lucas says.

"Are you not going to tell me what kind of pokemon they are?" Mason asks.

"You're just going to have to find out." Lucas smiles widely, showing me his pearly white teeth. I pout and faint hurt. I push his arm and he laughs. "So do you plan on catching anything on this route?"

"I don't know. The only pokemon I've seen has been a Seviper and Shelly beat the crap out of it." I remark. Lucas laughs and I smile; the story is nothing major, it's more humorous than anything. "But anyway, yeah I am hoping to catch a pokemon." I look towards the sky. "Probably tomorrow. It's starting to get late." The sky is a mix of purples and pinks. The sight is truly beautiful. Mistia was a bigger city so the sunset wasn't as raw as it is now. It's really nice. The colors seem to swirl and mix into an euphoria of colors. I smile and look at Lucas who doesn't seem to notice anything. He's probably seen all this before and then some.

With the night comes nightly sounds. There's an constant chatter of the nightly bug pokemon and bird pokemon. The night is very eerie. I release my pokemon so she can see the sky. She doesn't pay attention; she just begins running around frantically. She holds her hands over her ears. The chattering sound must be getting on her nerves. I laugh a little. I don't put her back though, she's going to have to learn to deal with these noises.

I take out the blanket that was on top of my bag. I carefully lay it out the ground and pull out a smaller one that I can put over me. I don't have a tent yet, so these two blankets are going to have to do. Lucas has a tent about the size to hold one person. He's quickly changed into some gray boxers and a blue shirt, revealing his toned legs and arms that were hidden under his clothes.

I turn around and begin tending to Shelly. I pull out a bag of sliced apples. I eat one and hand one to Shelly. She gladly puts it in her mouth and smiles in delight. Lucas also has his pokemon released, well one of them. It's his Cleffa, the one I battled with earlier. My pokemon readily forgets about the food and runs towards the Cleffa again. This time she doesn't hit the poor thing. She just sits there and smiles, the Cleffa smiles back, happy to have someone to play with.

"You met Effie when we had the battle."

"Yeah she kicked Shelly's butt." I joke around.

"To be expected when you're as awesome as I am." It's a shock to hear him say something conceited, but it's funny. "Yeah I was a really doozy to battle back home." He says cockily.

"Yeah I bet everyone cowered away from your mighty Cleffa." I laugh and he laughs.

The night is very relaxing. The chattering has died down and Shelly and Effie are playing tag. I'm happy and I can tell that everyone else is too.

There is something rustilng in the bushes. I hear a hiss and it catches the attention Lucas.

"What is that?" He asks.

"Ssssseviper." I know that is not what I think it is. The snake rushes out of the bus and uses a lick on Shelly. She tumbles and cries out in pain.

The snake pokemon is the same that I had met earlier today. It's the same size as the one earlier and it has bruises all of over its face from the pound attack that Shelly issued out.

"Effie-"

"No I got this." I shout. This is personal and I'm gonna catch this pokemon.

"Shelly charm and use pound." Shelly walks around cutely, trying to entrance the snake. I hadn't even taught it to her yet, but I think she picked it up earlier from Effie during her battle. It doesn't work, which I think means this Seviper is a female. "Pound." Shelly's nub of a fist glows and she speeds towards the Seviper. She punches it in the face, delivering blow after blow.

This time, however, the Snake pokemon wraps around Shelly's arm. It constricts and her arm starts turning blue from the lack of blood reaching her left arm.

"Hit it with the other hand." Shelly's rosy cheeks turn even roser and she begins punch it in the face again. The snake finally slacks down, fainted. It tumbles off of her arm and lands with a thud on the ground. "Pokeball." I exclaim and throw the red and white ball. The red beam takes in the pokemon, showing her shadow before she's sucked in. It wobbles and sweat runs across my forehead. It stops and I sigh. This was a little lack luster, but I was happy that I caught my first pokemon.

"Hey good job." Lucas calls, putting my attention back on the real world.

"Thanks." I reply, out of breath and almost disbelieving that I actually caught the snake pokemon.


	4. Marked and taken away

The Poké Ball feels warm in my hand; I can feel Seviper's warmth coming through the red and white ball. A small smile begins to form on my lips as I let out a distant sigh.

"Come out, Seviper." I say as toss the ball, fumbling to catch it as it returns to my hand. Seviper unleashes in a bright, white flash. She looks startled and begins surveying her surroundings carefully before suddenly landing her wild eyes on me. She sways a little back and forth and then inches closer to me.

She comes forward and strikes quick and fast, licking my arm. The lick burns and stings horridly.

"What the?!" I stammered as I began to clutch my arm and squeeze the place where the snake licked.

"She's imprinted on you now; marked you as her owner." Lucas says. I take another look at my arm and there is a small lick mark that's been burned into my arm. "A lot of reptilian Pokémon do that; it isn't really anything to worry about."

"Oh ok." I look back at the snake Pokémon. She's next to Shelly and Effie. Though she's only a baby herself, she's considerably bigger than both of the pink Pokémon. Shelly took an immediate liking to her, but I think she just likes everyone. Effie is a little more cautions, keeping her movements small. "Looks like Effie is a little afraid." I say with a little chuckle.

"No she's just- cautious." He lamely tries to make up a poor excuse to defend his Pokémon.

We all look up and saw the stars shimmer across the sky, dotting the dark, vibrant, purple with their glittery and twinkling lights. I feel tired and exhausted from everything that happened recently. I look over and can tell so are Shelly, Ivy, which is what I decide to name Seviper, and Lucas. Everyone passes around exhausted yawns, one after another, but we are all satisfied and happy with today's passing of events.

My arm grazes the ground I lay on, tingling my poison burn that Ivy gave me. I chuckle a little, delighted that Ivy had shown such affection, but she was a wild Pokémon so I know I would gonna have a harder time with her than I do with Shelly; but it shouldn't be too hard right? What's the worse that thing could do anyways, bite me? Bite me once, shame on you, bite me twice… well, just don't bite me twice.

**. . .**

"Is there someway you can start a fire?" The question spontaneously pops out of my mouth like Diglett popping out of its hole.

"Yeah…" He grumbles out. He gets out from under his sleeping bag, climbs out of his tent, and reaches into his backpack. Instead of pulling out matches he pulls a Poké Ball. "Axel." He says sleepily. Out comes a red, black, and tan wolf-tiger looking being; it's quite large and has an intimidating glare in its eyes, but the turn dopey and smiley after a moment.

"That's an Arcanine." I say in a slight amazement. "The evolved form of ummm... Growlithe or something cool like that." I say. Fire types have been a little close to heart because of my Mother and Father.

"Yeah." Lucas yawns. "Axel... fire... now... thanks."

Axel nods and begins to torch the ground with small embers. The embers soon crackle and he jumps to a tree. Axel swipes some bark off with its sharp claws and teeth and he carefully lays it on the smoldering ground. He soon puts the ground into aflame again and the result is a bright, quiet fire that burns beautifully as magnificent embers floated up in the dark sky.

"Thanks, Axel." As soon as I spoke, Axel suddenly becomes aware of my presence and stiffens up a little. He carefully comes close and sniffs around my face. Axel then lets out a happy bark and climbs on my blanket, making it hard to move. The dog was massive, I tell you what.

Effie seems to be enjoying the night quite a bit as her eyes were twinkling and she was running around a little bit. She runs over towards Axel and snuggles in his big mane. The sibling like behavior, I think, is just downright adorable and I can't help but let out a smile. Shelly runs over to and copies the action of Effie, though not knowing the fire type Pokémon. Effie introduces them to each other quickly and hops right back in Axel's fluffy hair. Shelly begins to waver off into unconsciousness. Her eyes close, putting her asleep in Axel's mane. Ivy has gone somewhere and it instills a panic in me.

"Lucas!" I shout. He murmurs and groans. "Ivy, I can't find her."

"Snake Pokémon tend to go off by themselves, it's fine just shut up!" He groans out. I'm put at a little amount of peace, but I still can't help but worry. I choose not to worry about it because if Lucas said it's fine, then it should be. Effie is still awake smiling and that's what I fall asleep to.

I wake up slowly, groggy and loopy. I turn my head towards the place where the fire was last night. The fire has died and all that lies is a pile of warm ash. I try to move, but there is a weight that stops me. Axel rest peacefully, with Effie and Shelly in his hair. I try to wiggle myself out of the blanket, but the canine's weight is too great. I'm afraid that if I try to move him that he'll bite me or something. I lay there for a little until lying on my back gets to be too much. My breathing becomes rushed and shallow. I've never liked lying on my back for a long time.

I lean forward and poke Axel in the nose a couple of times. His nose is moist and cool to the touch. His face contorts in slight discomfort. His eyes slowly open and he yawns loudly, but he still refuses to move. Ivy has returned and is coiled in front of Lucas' tent.

"Ivy." I whisper out. "Ivy." She doesn't stir, probably not recognizing her new name.

"Axel." I say loudly. "Axel-"

"Shut up Mason. Shut the freak up." Lucas shouts.

"Get your damn dog then." I counter, fed up with laying here. Lucas, clearly irritated, gets out of his tent. He is stark naked, but I cant help but stare at him. He's lost all composure he had during yesterday. His penis hangs out in all glory, while he returns his fire canine. He turns around revealing his golden, bubble butt. Returning Arcanine plops Shelly and Effie on the ground. He stomps back to his tent angry. The blush I should have had earlier slowly creeps upon my face. My body feels weird. That was the first time I have seen another boy's junk. I feel odd, but yet I'm not disgusted or repulsed at the sight that was before me.

I try to regain my composure. I stretch my arms and legs enjoying the pop and crack that comes with my aching bones. I yawn and scratch my itchy scalp. I feel dirty; sleeping on the ground irritates my skin. I'm going to take advantage of the shower time I get next time I see one.

Shelly is wide awake and squirm-ish like. Her eyes begin to water and I start to realize the horror about to happen. Shelly is a baby Pokémon and babies need their sleep. Interrupting babies sleep ends in...

"Waaaah!" The tears flow and the fuss begins. Shelly runs around flailing her arms, knocking things over and running into things.

"Shut that thing up!" Lucas shouts, voice dripping with aggravation. Ivy slithers into some bush trying to escape the high-pitched noise. I sigh and walk over to Shelly. I gently pick her up and begin patting her back.

"Shhh..." I whisper in her ear. She doesn't stop and it actually seems as if she's getting louder.

"Return that damned Pokémon to its ball!" Lucas shouts.

"You're not helping." I enunciate each word, tired of Lucas' morning attitude. I whisper some soft words and gently stroke Shelly's curl.

"Hush." I whisper again and again until the crying dies down and Shelly's breathing slows. I chuckle at the light snores that come from her. I reach in my bag, carefully, and pull out her Poké Ball, marked with an S in permanent marker. I return her and put her in my backpack. I put on a white t-shirt and dark jeans and then I grab Ivy's Poké Ball. I go through the bushes, hoping to find my poison Pokémon.

"Ivy!" I shout. "Ivy!" I look for several minutes before I take a short break. "Where could she have gone?" I ask myself aloud. I get up and begin looking again. I come to a nice clearing, but am faced with the back side of a big, steel ant. Its legs are wiry and its antennae twitch to and fro.

I walk around it, not wanting to interrupt it as it seems to be eating. I get to the far side of the clearing and take a quick glance to my left.

"No!" I shout, immediately catching the attention of the ant. Its mouth is bloodied and stained with dark skin. Ivy lays there limply, unmoving. Tears cascade down my face. The ant makes a break for me and I take off running. I twist and turn back to the camp, looking backwards occasionally to see how close the ant is. It's surprisingly not so close.

I find our camp and crash through Lucas's tent.

"Give me Axel." He's confused, but he complies anyway. I walk out as he begins to put on underwear.

"Axel, I need you to listen to me." Axel growls in confusion. "Lucas said I could." I reason with him. He nods in understanding. The tears have temporarily stopped flowing, but they steadily build up. I lead him to the bush and see the ant. "Burn it alive! Kill it! Destroy it." I yell almost evilly, losing all sense that I had before.

He releases the fire and the ant stops and trips.

"YES! YES! YES!" I cackle, laughing and jumping up and down. Tears begin going down my face again, as I see the ant's metal melt off. Lucas comes up behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder, despite not knowing what's going on. "Kill it please." I let out pathetically. The fire finally reaches the flesh.

"Axel, finish the Durant, quickly! It's upsetting Mason." _Durant. Durant. Durant._ I need to mend that into my brain. Axel rushes over, his mouth aflame and takes a huge crunch out of the Durant's head with a fire fang.

I release all of the tears now. I sob and sob. It's a nasty ugly cry, but I can't help it. Lucas wraps his arms around and places my head on his bare shoulder.

"Why? She didn't do anything she was a baby." I feel Lucas tense up.

"She will be missed, even though we just met her, she claimed you and she will always be yours." Lucas says trying to comfort me.

I wrap my arms around his torso and feel a little bit of comfort. His embrace is what I remember before I collapse.


	5. A blowout and a happy sheep

**A/N: I have decided to change tense and POV. This is for style purposes, I will go back and revise the past chapters soon.**

Mason sprung up breathing wildly. He was in Lucas' tent, confused, when the day's events suddenly came rushing back to him. He forced his tears back away and swallowed down the lump in his throat. _'I can't keep sulking.'_ He willed himself up and stood for a while.

He walked out to see a worried Lucas. The other boy rushed up and crushed Mason into a hug.

"Man you had me so worried." Lucas kept his arms around Mason's neck; Mason returned the gesture and a small smile formed on his lips. "I'm sorryy for this morning. I was acting like a complete dick. It wasn't cool of me at all."

"It's fine. You can't help that you're an ass in the morning." Mason joked around. He wanted to forget this morning, but his arm forever reminded him. He didn't need his friend reminding him too. "So how long was I out?"

"Not long. Maybe around thirty minutes." They still had all day to travel and Mason was going to take advantage of that.

"So are you ready to leave?"

"Are you sure? You still might need some rest. Passing out doesn't really refresh the body at all."

"No I'm fine. I don't want to stay here anyway." Lucas sighed in defeat and began folding down his tent.

. . .

Mason pulled out Shelly's pokeball. Though she may not exactly understand what's going on she still neeed to hear the news. He released her and she came out. The pink pokemon smiled at the known face and pounded Mason's cheek.

"Hey girl." He started quietly, a soft smile and a warm feeling coming from his face. "You know Ivy?" She slowly nodded her head; she knew Ivy's name and was slowly becoming accostumed to human speech. "Well she's, uh she's, ummm she's gone." It was hard for him to release the words. "She's not here anymore." Shelly barely understood, but she understood 'Ivy,' 'gone', and 'not here anymore.' Her eyes began welling up with tears. "Shhh." He consoled. "We can't cry, Ivy wouldn't want that , she'd want us to keep going. It's time you put on your big girl diapers. We," he pointed at him and her "have to get stronger, ok?" Shelly nodded slowly again, but the tears traveled down her eyes.

"There was no sobbing and there was no frantic running, just silent tears. Mason wrapped his arms around the pink pokemon. "That's good, let out some of that emotion."

Lucas watched the whole situation in wonderment. He had lost several pokemon to death and had never reacted this well. Mason picked up Shelly and held her close to his chest. He walked over to Lucas drying his eyes.

"You handled that really well. That was very mature of you." Lucas commented.

"Thanks. I lost my pet snubbul a couple of years ago, so I handle the aftermath of death pretty well; as for the initial part of it, well you saw how I reacted." Mason put on a sad smile. Lucas' eyes softened and he put a protective arm around the younger boy. Mason felt safer and comfortable with the ninteen year old's arm around him.

"Thanks Lucas." Mason put a hand to his forehead. He had a headache from the crying.

"No problem." I feel what know what you're going through right now." Lucas reassured Mason by rubbing small circles on Mason's shoulder. Mason was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, not at the rubbing itself, but how it was making him feel. His heartbeat quickened and his breathing became faster.

"Lucas I'm fine." Mason tried a feeble attempt to stop the rubbing.

"I know, but with what you've been through, you're gonna need someone there."

"I know, but-"

"No buts." Lucas still rubbed circles on Mason's shoulder.

"Lucas I'm fine. I'm not some baby! I can handle myself!" Mason shouted harshly and pushed Lucas off of him. Lucas backed up slowly, he looked hurt. "Wait. I'm sorry." Mason's eyes widened in shock. _'Why did I do that?'_ Mason felt horrible.

"No, I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone for now." Lucas stepped away from Mason and kept his head pointed to the ground. Mason sighed and placed the bottom of his chin on Shelly's curl.

. . .

They walked in silence for a while. Signs of civilization were showing up. Little houses and windmills sprinkled the scenery. Herds of Miltank, Tauros, and Bouffalant were widespread, and flocks of maerrp and flaffy were even more common.

Sightings of pokemon was also diminishing. Rattata and those of the like were abundant before they left, even a Teddiursa and a pair of Ursaring were seen. The rise of civilization was tearingdown the pokemons' homes, forcing them to find habitance further in the forest. Mason sees a sign that reads. "Persia Town one mile." His spirits did a small jump.

"We're almost there." Mason told Lucas.

"Yeah looks like it." Lucas turned his head towards Mason. His eyes, as did Mason's, held a pained expression. Though for different reasons.

"Lucas talk to me." Mason desperately cooed.

"What do you want me to say?" His hurt demeanor cut into Mason. He had already felt bad, but then he felt even worse.

"Say you forgive me." Mason said with a small smile.

"Your apologizing? For what?" Lucas asked in bemusement.

"You were trying to help and I blew up for no reason."

"You did do that, didn't you." He smiled and Mason smiled.

Lucas didn't apologize, but Mason was ok with that. Lucas hadn't done anything. _'He was just trying to help.'_

"Ok now that that's out of the way, we can go into town peacefully." Mason said. They continued walking, finishing off the last little bit of distance to Persia Town.

. . .

Persia town was placed right in the middle of the Otomah region. Its location was perfect for farming and neighboring towns and cities also enjoyed the mild climate. Persia town was a big agriculture center, sprinkled with a variety of farms. This town almost could have relied on itself for all its resources. Despite being a farm town, Persia was very modern and offered a wide range of jobs in different fields. The town was known for its nice people and even more nice peace.

Lucas and Mason sat in the Pokecenter lobby waiting for the Nurse Joy to tell them of any rooms available for the day. Mason and Lucas both agreed to stay in the area for two to three days. There were some small villages and towns nearby, so they could venture, but still be close to the town.

"So what do you plan on doing today?" Lucas asked.

"Probably just gonna walk areound town for a little, train some, battle random people. Should be fun. You can help me with strategy."

"Oh, I'm not going with you today." As part of helping professor Rowan, I have to pay careful attention to Pokemon habitats and how that affects behavior and farms are a perfect place to view behavior." The explanation brought about some dissapointment to Mason.

"So I'm by myself." Mason wanted, more like needed help as a trainer and was hoping Lucas could help him, but it looked like no such thing was going to happen. "Ok that's fine." Mason sighed out.

Lucas left shortly after, leaving Mason to explore the town for himself. Mason walked around the, surprisingly, large town. He noticed different stores, trademarking different trades, and aslo various restaurants and cafes. Mason told himself he would check out the cafes later on when he was hungry.

The people he encountered in the town were all friendly and smiling. It really uplifted his mood and gave him a spring in his step. He smiled and waved to everyne he passed. There were many stalls selling potions, antidotes, paralyze heals, and those of the like. Mason considered buying these things with the little amount of money had, but decided to wait until he had more money.

He came across a ranch full of Mareep and Flaffy. He smiled at the quiet nature of all the pokemon. They baaed and squealed in pure bliss. Mason saw one Mareep close to the brown, picket fence. He gently rubbed the coat, feeling a little surprise when the wool shocked his hand a little.

"Electric types." Mason heard behind him. He turned around and was faced with a boy with black hair that stopped around his hair. He hand a handsome face, with a warm smile that could melt anyone to do his bidding. His nose was sharp and a little obnoxious, but his other facial features drew attention away from that. He wore a white shirt with a black, argyle cardigan over it, some khaki pants and some gray boat shoes. "Mareep are electric types, that's why your hand feels like that." He pointed at the sheep and smiled at it.

"Oh, I knew that." Mason said, not wanting to seem stupid for some strange reason.

"I'm Evan." The black headed boy stuck out his hand and gave a friendly smile. He had a little country twang in his voice, but nothing too extreme. His voice was actually very different from the other ones that Mason had heard that day.

"Mason." The young trainer replied back.

"My dad owns this pasture." Mason looked at him in surprise.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't want to-"

"No it's fine, my dad is such a big stick in the mud, the pokemon need some interaction." Evan smiled and laughed. "That right there is Finese." He said pointing to the Mareep. Finese baaed lightly at her name.

"That's a nice name."

"Thanks, I named her myself. She's kinda mine. She has a special place right here." Evan pointed at where his heart was. "Right there in my insides." He said playfully.

"Funny." Mason said.

"So what're you doing here? I know you don't live here, I know everyone."

"Me and a friend are stopping here for a little while. We are traveling Otomah, me on a gym challenge and him professoring, or whatever you call it. So I'm just looking around town." Mason explained.

"Cool. Mind if I tag along? I can explain things to you." Evan said with a hopeful smile.

"Sure, I needed some company anyway." Mason happily replied. "See ya Finese." The Mareep smiled and discharged a little electricity in happiness.

"See ya girl." Evan said happily, rubbing the head of the Mareep. They walked away from the fence and began walking through the town.

**I think this is my favorite chapter so far.**


	6. Training and White Eyes

Evan showed Mason every crack and crevice there was in Persia. He showed him where to get the best deals on items, the best restaurants, and even a place for pokemon day care. Mason was happy to have someone show him around. When Lucas wasn't there, he missed the little spurts of facts and knowledge that spewed from his mouth, and having some culture facts was a nice change to all the scientific facts that Lucas gave. The pair of teenagers were sitting on a park bench, watching some children battle, with their pokemon, on a makeshift battlefield.

One boy, ten or eleven in age, had a magby on his side, while a girl, of the same age, had an elekid on her team. Both pokemon seemed evenly matched, though the girl played with more spunk and confidence in her battling.

"Elekid, thundershock!" The electric pokemon whirred its arms, collecting some stored electricity, and then discharged a bold of electricity.

"Magby, fight through it!" Worry overtook the boys face. The magby stood its ground, but its legs struggled to support its weight as exhaustion took over. "Magby use smog!" Smoke emmited

"Dodge by using low kick." The elekid slid under the cloud of smoke that came towards him and then sweeped the magby. "Good now thundershock!" The lightning pokemon struck the downed magby, rendering it useless to battle. "Good job!" The girl jumped and smiled, hugging her pokemon closely.

"It's ok Magby." The boy sadly returned his pokemon. Mason smiled, though slightly sad about the outcome, he was rooting for the little guy.

"I wish I could've gotten my pokemon early like they did." Mason unexpectedly said.

"Yeah, but think, you've started with a more mature outlook on things." Evan said.

"Yeah you're right." Mason looked around the little park. "Hey, is there anywhere to train here." Evan smiled and nodded his head.

"Yeah let me show you."

...

Evan and Mason stood in front of a gray building with a blue roof. A red neon sign on the front of the rook red: "Gym."

"Oh, so this is my first gym?" Asked the tan boy.

"No, no, no. This is a training gym. A place for trainers to train." Evan walked in and held the door open for Mason. "Hey Jon." Evan nodded at a man at the front desk. Jon had a muscled build and blonde hair. He was tanned from over exposure to the sun, unlike Mason's natural tan. He had a friendly face and smile. He wore a white t-shirt and his khaki shorts and flip flops were hidden from Mason's and Evan's view.

"Hey Evan! How's it going and who's your friend?" The middle aged man looked quisitively at Mason.

"This is Mason. He's staying in Persia town for a little. This boy here is a new up-and-coming trainer taking on the Otomah league." Evan's face turned mischevious after saying that, causing Mason to make a face of confusion at the sudden change of character, that is until Jon nearly tackled him.

"Is that so?" Jon began patting Mason's back, nearling knocking the sixteen year old over. "I took on the league myself! I placed in the top ten in the Otomah league tournament. I know what it takes to make it. I tell you this one time, this was for my sixth gym badge, I was killing it, well my pokemon and I were. It was attack after attack, one after the other, and we were taking down everything! But then the gym leader sent out a gyrados. That thing was a wall of terror, took out all of my pokemon except my trusty Sally. Sally, that's my weavile." Mason sat uncomfortable under the man's arm. He glared at Even and grunted out of slight annoyance.

"...and then I yelled out Ice be-"

"That's enough Jon." Evan light-heartedly laughed. "Mason's got some training to do."

"Ok, I'll let you guys get your training done." Jon grinned like a starstruck boy. "Mason if you ever need tips, call me." He gestrued a phone with his hands and went back behind the front desk.

"Jon may be a little over excited but he means well, but seriously take him up on his offer he knows what he's doing." Mason thought about this for a few seconds. Evan suddenly chuckled and let out, "He will now forever worshi you."

"Why?"

"Not a lot of people from this town become trainers, and when they do they don't usually take on the league, they just travel and battle. Jon's always been a big league fan and he's always admired people who have the courage to actually take it on, it's a really dangerous thing to do."

"Dangerous?" Evan looked at Mason a little shocked.

"Of course. More pokemon deaths have been reported for people who have tried to take on the league than those who don't. Gym trainers are no joke, and trainers in general can be cut throat, you have some guts taking this thing on. Some real courage." Evan looked at the ground in deep thought.

"How do you know all this?"

"Jon. His stories of his take on the league. He's lost pokemon, plenty of pokemon. He says it never leaves you. He told me sometimes he still has nightmares of his first pokemon's death." Mason immediately thought of Ivy. He never thought he was ever going to forget her and now it was just reinforced.

Mason's throat clenched. He had never thought of it that way. He thought this adventure of his was going to be fun, exciting, non-dangerous. _'if I hadn't done this adventure, Ivy still would be..'_ Mason was upset and sad; he hadn't want to be in harm, he didn't want to put his pokemon in harms way. _'But I can do this! If mom and dad can, I definitely can.'_ Mason reassured himself. He smiled at Evan.

"Thanks, I didn't know it required so much courage to be a trainer, but I'm confident in my abilities and Shelly's abilities, and I'm gonna be confident in my future pokemons' abilities. Ok, so let's get started."

"So to get started, what would you say your pokemon is good at?" Mason considered this for a quick second.

"Well she's good at punching things."

"Ok." Evan walked to a wall with a numerous amount of pokeballs on a shelf. "These are personal pokemon trainers. Pokemon who help make your pokemon better." He looked through the shelves of pokeballs and finally decided on one. He tossed the hall and out came a brown pokemon, with what looked like a purple tunic. It had large shoulders that resembled shoulder pads and large circular red hands that looked like boxing gloves.

"What is that?" Mason had barely managed to let that out. He was mesmerized by the pokemon; it seethed out confidence, but also had a very friendly demeanor about it.

Evan answered with a smile. "This is Hitmonchan."

"No other name?"

"No, he's not really anyone's pokemon, so no one has named him." Evan now changed his face to that of seriousness. "Now let out your pokemon so we can get started." Mason released Shelly. She smiledat Mason and motioned for him to pick her up. He did but only to turn her around.

"You are gonna do some training, ok?"

"So Happiny is who you started with. That's...different." Evan awkwardly said. "Anyway, we're gonna get started with a small warm up. There's track outside, and I want you and Happiny to go out there and do four laps."

"What? Why me?"

"The only way for you guys to work in sync is for you guys to train together." Mason sighed but complied. He took off his gray messenger bag, set it aside, and went outside. Hitmonchan and Shelly followed him out. Mason placed himself at the started of the track and sprinted off, motioning for Shelly to follow.

...

Mason finished after the Hitmonchan, who quickly overtook him during the second lap, but before Shelly because of his longer legs. He was clearly out of shape because he was already tired from that short run. Shelly still had enough energy to keep going, though, because of her higher endurance level due to being a pokemon.

"Ok now for the actual training." Evan shouted. "Hitmonchan!" The fighting type pokemon perked up from its own little world. "Training time!" Hitmonchan nodded and walked in the facility. Mason picked up Shelly and walked into the gym after Evan and Hitmonchan. The cool air is a welcome change to Mason compared to the heat outside.

"Ok!" Evan clapped his hands together. "We are gonna be working focusing Shelly's strength. Obviously Happiny aren't the strongest pokemon, but they and their evolutions use a lot of physical attacking moves, so that's why we are using Hitmonchan, that and the fact that you said that Shelly likes to use the move pound. Hitmonchan make have higher defense stats, but their punches are some of the toughest and quickest ever seen. By the time we're done, we'll have Shelly looking like a boxer." Evan laughed at the last little sentence at the end. Mason nodded and agreed.

"So let's get this thing started!" Mason said dramatically, with a smile on his face.

* * *

Mason nearly collapsed on the floor of the Pokemon Center's hotel room. The training was rigorous and tough. Hitmonchan was relentless in the amound of repitions done for each workout. It had been easy in the begininning with only some short spurts of cardio, but then their was weight training, and then sandbag technique training, which put Mason over the edge. His lungs begged for water and he made haste to give them what they needed. Shelly was following close behind. She handled everything well during, but after the shock of the training finally caught up with her and made her tired.

They had found a good rhythm for Shelly. She readily picked up on the boxing type fighting that the Hitmonchan had. She had learned a various amount of different combinations that Mason could call during battle and she could execute them. They also taught her many different commands and she even learned the moves copycat and refresh, which was incredibly useful to battle. Jon had also came and helped Mason come up with a diet and vitamin regimine that would be a daily thing for Shelly.

Mason now sat under a hot spray of water in the shower. He felt so good with the water pounding on his skin and the clean feeling it gave him. He stepped out, dried, and put on another pair of clothes. He waited for Lucas and Shelly. Lucas to return from his research and Shelly from being healed. He had gotten Evan's Poketch number and agreed to meet up with him either later that day or tomorrow. His ears perked as they called him over the room's intercom to come pick up his pokemon. He walked down the wall, nearly bumping into a couple of trainers that all looked a little older than him. He noticed how their eyes looked like they were up to no good, but he disregarded this.

He walked up to the counter and smiled at the smiling Nurse Joy.

"I'm here for Shelly." He said. She nodded and pulled out the pokeball.

"We hope to see you again." Mason's face contorted in confusion.

_'They want to see my injured pokemon again.'_ His confusion went away as he realized that it was more of a need for him to visit the Pokemon Center, if he wanted his pokemon to survive.

"Ok thanks." He smiled and walked back up to his room. In the hallway, he saw the same group of guys. They were just sitting on the wall with mysterious smiles plastered on their faces.

"You a trainer?" The brown headed one questioned. Mason nodded and this elicted a wider smile from the brown headed boy. "Wanna battle?" Mason found himself agreeing without even thinking about the amount of trouble he could get it. He could tell something was off about these guys, but he didn't know what.

The went downstairs and outside, right next to the pokemon center. There was a practice field there that wasn't being used. Mason walked to one side and the brown headed guy stood on the others.

"One-on-One." Mason said and the boy nodded.

"Ok, Crevice come out!" Out came a small crocodile pokemon. It was brown with black stripes over its body.

"Sandile." It let out. Mason thought there was something off about it, something in its eyes. That's when he noticed that they were pure white, with no pupils.

"Is there something wrong-"

"Just send your pokemon out." Mason staggered and released Shelly, which elicited a few laughs from each of the guys. "This is going to be easy guys." Mason took offense to this and looked at Shelly.

"Stance!" Shelly's look of innocence turned serious as she raised her fists and began shuffling. This caught the guys by surprise, but their confidence barely wavered. "You guys get first move." Mason said.

"Ok, your loss! Sandile cut!" The pokemon's fist glowed and sharpened and it runs towards Happiny, its eyes lifeless and cold.

The eyes startled Mason, but he still called out, "Dodge, then jabs." Happiny dodged the cut and then repeatedly jabbed the pokemon in the face. "Uppercut combo." A jab followed by an uppercut, sent the pokemon in the air a couple of inches. "Retreat." Shelly ran back to her trainer and smiled. "Stance down." Shelly stopped with the boxing and put her arms to the side.

"Get up Crevice." Sandile got up, not even struggling. "Bite it."

"Copycat." Happiny's mouth opened up abnormally and she grew ghostly sharp teeth, simulating real ones. It was slightly ineffective as she got bitten first, but she retaliated with a bite of her own. "Pound." She punched it in the face reeling it back. The sandile doesn't get back up, but you can hardly tell that it had been knocked out.

The other trainer sadly returns his pokemon and reluctantly passes Mason some money. The question that had been nagging on Mason's brain suddenly spewed from his mouth.

"What was up with its eyes." All of the boys stiffened.

"That ain't none of yo' business." One said, obviously from around Persia. They all ran, leaving Mason on the field by himself. Though he was a little creeped out, he managed a smile and picked up Shelly, happy that they had gotten a win.

_'My first win. Our first win.'_


	7. Catching and Fighting

Mason crashed down on the hotel bed satisfied, yet disturbed with his battle. The white eyes of the pokemon still lingered in his head; the emotionless pits that no longer held any emotion stared coldly into him and into his pokemon. Shelly curiously walked around the room, getting into anything and everything she could. Mason smiled, though he had a little resentment for not getting a stronger starter at the beginning, he loved Shelly already, flaws and all.

Shelly turned towards him and smiled, her rosy cheeks turning even redder. She hopped on the bed and tapped the stond on Mason's head, something she had been doing since he first met her. Lucas said it was something she did to show her attachment and affection towards him. Mason smiled and rubbed the curl on his pokemon's head. She squealed in delight and hopped off the bed. He watched her for a couple more minutes, but fell asleep of exhaustion.

A light shake moved Mason. He slowly opened up his eyes, noticing Shelly curled into his chest and Lucas standing over him.

"Wake up." Lucas said. Mason's eyes popped open, at the sound of Lucas' soft voice. A small blush overtook Mason's face at the close proximity of Lucas' own.

"Hey Lucas." He pulled himself up, waking up Shelly who smiled when seeing Lucas.

"How was your day?"

"It was fine I guess. I won my first battle today." Mason flashed a smile.

"That's good. I guess the training went well?"

"Yeah, and the battle was pretty easy, a little weird though." Lucas looked confused.

"What was weird about it?"

"The pokemon had white eyes, do you know what's up with that?" Lucas' face drained of the little color that he already had. "Lucas, what was up with that?" Mason said snapping his fingers in front of Lucas' face.

"Don't worry about it." Lucas waved his hands.

"Don't tell me not to worry about it. I have the right to know."

"Mason, listen to me right now, don't worry about it. This has nothing to do with you, this is something a little to big for you to handle." Lucas condescendingly said.

"Too big for me to handle? I'm not a child, I'm-"

"I know you're not a child, you're my friend, that's why I'm not letting you get involved with this. Hell, I'm trying not to get involved with it."

"Whatever." Mason waved his arm dramatically, and then picked up Shelly. "I'm going out for some fresh air." Mason walked out of the room and closed the door.

Mason walked on the route right outside of Persia. He let Shelly roam about in front of him while he thought. He tried not to think of the white eyes, but they kept a prominent place in his head. He tried not to think of Lucas and how protective he was. He tried not to think of anything that could upset him.

"I'm not a baby." He kicked a little rock and sighed. Shelly hardly noticed Mason's depression as she curiously wandered the world before her. She was amazed at everything she saw new and old. She noticed a dark green stalk potruding from a bush and decided to pull, revealing a lighter green color further down the stalk. A squawk was heard that caught Mason's attention and he pulled his head up towards Shelly.

Shelly tugged and tugged on the stalk and the squawking got louder and louder until Shelly, finally, was able to pull the stalk and the squawker out of the bush.

"Farfetch'd!" It roared and striked Shelly with the stick and Shelly began forming tears.

_'Why is she crying, she's dealt with worse.' _Deducing that it had something to do with she wasn't expecting it, Mason quit judging. _'This Farfetch'd would be an nice addition though.'_

"Shelly just go for a pound." Shelly immediately stops crying and lands an uppercut to the bird's chin. "Jab combo." Shelly began jabbing the bird's face multiple times and then ended with a right hook. "Good job." The bird tried flying away, but Mason threw his pokeball first. It sucked the bird in and shook.

And it shook again.

And again.

And again and then it clicked. Mason smiled and almost cried out in joy. This was his first catch since Ivy.

_'Ivy.' _He thought, his throat nearly clenching. _'We're gonna be fine girl.'_ Mason picked up the pokeball, feeling the warmth of the ball in his hands. He pulled out a permanent marker and wrote a name on the pokeball. **"Leek" **was thickly and smoothly written on the pokeball. He was afraid to immediately let the pokemon go because he didn't want it to fly away.

Mason pocketed the pokemon and scooped Shelly.

"Good job, Shelly." He congratulated her resulting in a squeal of delight and a smile. Mason began walking back to Persia town, mind deep in thought of his new pokemon.

_'Leek, a Farfetch'd, not the strongest flying type and that was evident from the battle; it didn't even fight back. Is it worth keeping?' _Mason contemplated just letting the pokemon go, but there were some major consequences on that. It would be on record that one of his registered pokeballs wouldn't be in use, and the governement didn't really like too many releases. Also, captured pokemon were more quickly domesticated from other pokemon, which would lead to a shunning of the captured pokemon.

"Welcome to the team Leek." He smiled down at the pokeball and walked back to the town.

He stopped by a mart, ranging the prices of pokedexes. He really wanted one to be able to learn about his pokemon more and be able to regularly keep up with his pokemons leveling up and attacks. The cheapest one only left him with a small amount of cash left and the most expensive one was way too much. He opted for buying the one in between the two, leaving him with very little money. He exchanged the money with the store attendant and went on his way.

Staring at his new pokedex, a dark green one with a black stripe on it, Mason decided to scan Shelly. This pokedex showed the species, level, natures, attacks, and even had a translator. Shelly was currently at a level of 10 and knew the moves pound, charm, mimic, and refresh. He returned Shelly, thanking her for her patience. Mason contemplated letting his new addition out. He was afraid of the consequences of letting a flying type out; it could easily fly away.

Consequence at the back of his mind, Mason let Leek out. The bird appeared in a flash of white angry and upset, already causing a ruckus in the short amount of time it was let out. It lunged towards Mason with it's stalk glowing purple. It striked Mason hard with a poison jab attack, right above Ivy's mark.

"Damn!" Mason yelled clutching his arm. He instincitively kicked out, knocking the bird pokemon down. Leek fluttered up and weakly flew around Mason going in for pecks. "Stop!" Mason yelled to no avail. The Wild duck pokemon then used furry cutter, cutting Mason's arms, forming minor scratches and bruises. "You bitch!" Mason screamed out. Mason punched out, landing a punch to the birds eye. Farfetch'd fell and Mason pounced on top of it, flailing out a furry of punches. He then got up and stared down at his bird pokemon who leered at Mason, trying to strike fear in his heart.

"I'm not afraid of you." Mason defiantly said. Leek screeched and flew up, trying to land another attack on Mason. "Oh no, no more of that." Mason said. He quickly returned the bird mid-strike. "Crazy bird." Mason pocketed his pokemon and headed back towards the pokemon center.


	8. Head Start

The Farfetch'd caused Mason some huge trouble. Every time Mason attempted to even look at the bird, it would cry out and lash at him. Mason was getting tired of its troublesome ways and was nearing his breaking point. It had been two days since the day he caught it and he was still having some problems. His falling out with Lucas was resolved, so he sought out his help the day he caught him. Lucas just gave him advice to let things pan out. Evan wasn't much help either as he only laughed at Mason's predicament. Lucas was enraged and couldn't help but get upset everytime he thought of it.

"Listen here you damned bird!" Mason yelled in a rage. "You're gonna stop attacking me!" The bird was hardly paying attention, it just looked at Mason with a bored expression and yawned. "This is not a joke." He toned down his volume, but his voice held all seriousness. The bird still didn't seem to budge. Mason sadly returned the pokemon away and sighed. "Lost cause." He said. He released Shelly and sat her on his lap. He gently rubbed her curl.

"I don't know what Leeks problem is." He said to her. She saw that he was sad and forcibly got her way out of his arms. She went beside him and tapped him with her stone. Mason smiled at her attempt to make him happy. She made his spirits a little higher. Suddenly his Pokedex vibrated. He had recieved a text message, something that Lucas had taught him the day before. He tapped the screen and opened the message.

_"There's someone named Evan at the hotel for you."_ The message read. Mason smiled and scooped up Shelly. He ran quickly, making quite the uncomfortable ride for the small, pink normal type. Mason arrived at the pokemon center and took the elevator to his room. He walked in his room seeing a smiling Evan on the bed and a talking Lucas sitting at the room's table.

"...and then Barry decided that he was gonna fine me for everything I did wrong." Lucas was about to continue with his story when he noticed that Mason was at the door.

"There's who I wanted to see!" Evan said. Mason's cheeks turned red with Evan's statement.

"What? Wh-why would you want to see me?" Mason stammered. _"Why am I acting so stupid?"_ He mentally scolded himself.

"Well, I've already talked to Lucas about it, but I also want your permission too." His voice now serious, but he still maintained his friendly demeanor and attitude. "I want to travel with you guys." Mason managed to make his smile smaller than what his face wanted it to be.

"That would be awesome!" He nearly shouted. "We could be like three musketeers." He joked. There was light chuckles from everyone. "But seriously this should be fun. But you've gotten permission from your dad right."

"Eh, what he won't know won't hurt him." Lucas and Mason gave him a confused stare. "I'm just kidding with you, of course I asked him. He was a little hard to convince, but I told him I would have an experienced trainer traveling with me." He explained.

"Ok makes sense." There was a slightly awkward air in the room after that. Mason's eyes darted around the room as he thought of something to say. "So you've packed and everything? We're probably gonna leave today actually." Mason asked.

"Yeah, I kind of thought that you guys would accept me so I took the liberty of saying bye to my dad already and I've already grabbed my pokemon." Evan explained. He showed his backpack and the supplies and the two pokemon in it.

"Ok well that settles that. We should go check out." Lucas said. For some reason the awkward air still wafted in the air, but they all chose to ignore it as the elevator doors slid open.

At the bottom of the floor they quickly checked out and went outside. Evan's stuff was neatly stacked on a table with Jon, the gym owner, sitting next to it. He gave a small wave and a smile.

"Hey Mason, Evan, guy I don't know."

"Lucas." The Sinnoh native answered a little annoyed. Jon shook off the slight coolness and continued talking.

"Mason, I know that you are taking the gym challenge," Mason readied himself for another near-tackling and rant "so here's my number." He handed Mason a small slip of paper; Mason quickly wrote registered the number in his pokedex. "Also, here's a handbook of the do's and don'ts of the wilderness." It was a small ring notebook. Mason quickly looked through it, it was full of notes, pictures, crude drawings, and explanations. Mason was surprised that Jon had thought of giving him all of this, but he was also surprised of the seriousness of the usual excitable guy.

Mason replied: "Th-thanks." A litte lost for words. "But why did you decided to do all this?" He questioned.

"The life of a trainer is hard, the life of a leaguer is even harder. I want to give you a small head start in the game, and with the help of Evan, one of the best breeders I know, and Lucas, I'm sure you'll be able to accomplish getting to the league. Call me whenever you need help or tips on gym leaders and strategies." He gave a small nod. "I've been keeping an eye on you in the gym, so I have no doubt that you," He bent down eyelevel with Mason's pokemon, "or Shelly will have a problem." Mason was flattered from the encouragement. He gave a curt nod and a small thanks. Jon then pulled Evan off to the side and then began to talk to him, with both of his hands on Evan's shoulders.

"Real encouragement." Lucas said.

"Yeah, nice right?" Mason replied his confidence rising a couple of levels. The made some small talk until Jon finished talking to Evan. Evan returned to the two with a sad smirk on his face.

"You guys ready?" The sad looking boy asked. They both nodded, deciding not to say anything. They walked to the opposite of town and finally stepped out of Persia town.

* * *

Route 17 was slightly more exciting than Route 16. Mason and Evan had already gotten into encounterments with numerous pokemon. Mason had been able to get training for Shelly and even managed to get Leek some training, though all his advice was ignored, and Evan managed to train Finese and his Lillipup, Shiloh.

Mason and Evan were currently battling separately. Mason was up against a sturdy Nincada, which was managing to take all of Leeks attacks. Evan was up against an Oddis, that wasn't fairing to well against his Mareep.

"Leek would you freaking listen! Fury Cutter isn't working, use Poison Jab." Leek glared at Mason for a little while fluttering in the air. The bird glared at him before swooping down and attacking the bug with the poison attack. It managed to actually cause a great amount of pain, making the bug hiss in pain. "Use it again!" The bug was knocked out. Mason decided to throw the pokeball. He deduced that the defense of the pokemon could be incredibly useful. He smiled as the ball stopped rolling. He picked up the ball and decided to name the bug 'Chatter' for all the noise it had been making.

He wrote the name thickly on the pokeball and then put it in his pocket. Evan called out for Finese to use a last thundershock that downed the Oddish, despite type weakness. Evan smiled to himself and joined the rest of the group, after congratulating his pokemon. They continued making their way through the route. Mason thought about the next town and what was in store for him. It was the first gym city, and the typing already made him a little nervous.

The next town was name Glace city, and the gym specialized in ice types.


	9. Proud feeling

**Ok I promise this is the last time I'm changing point of view, but first point is more personal and that's what I like.**

Nincada was an excellent battler. It's defense capabilities were amazing for a bug pokemon and its average attacking made it a pretty solid battler. Chatter fit right in with Shelly. He treated her like a princes and that was fine with me. He even managed to get a conversation going with Leek.

Leek was a whole different story; he listened maybe five percent of the time, but other than that he was a live wire who didn't want to take orders from anyone. I managed some form of a discipline plan that seemed to work a little. Sometimes Lucas looked at me like I was cruel and Evan would pass Leek looks of pity, but I had to do what I needed to do, and that just ended up being threatening, and sometimes doing, to take his stalk away.

Each time he was without his stalk there was an immediate reaction from him. Not only did he squawk like a maniac and whine like a baby, there was also a physical change in him too. He seemed to lose energy and become sluggish and his breathing became rugged and shallow. Something told me the stalk was incredibly important to him and I was taking full advantage of that. In hind sight, I look back and think about how incredibly cruel that was, Leek didn't deserve that and I spent many a days apologizing, but I was stupid and carefree back then and that was the only way to get him to listen to me.

Lucas, Evan, and I were making pretty good time on the short route. Evan predicted that in two to three hours we would be at the next town and that sounded pretty good to me. Evan and Lucas were talking about something that sounded like complicated breeding stuff that I wasn't concerned with at the moment, and so it was moments like those that I took the time to reflect on the white eyed pokemon.

It's eyes still haunted me whenever I thought for too long. Even the way the poor sandile sounded was creepy and depressing. I needed to know some answers about what that was all about, but I would have to get the answers by myself it seemed at the time, since Lucas refused to help me gain the answers I wanted.

Shelly rode on the back of Chatter. She squealed in pure bliss in the spoiling, something that I was going to have to address at a later time, but for now I let her have her fun. Leek stayed close only because I kept his pokeball in my hand. He fluttered from tree to tree occasionally sending me glares and looks of distaste. I sneered back when he gave me a icy look.

Along the way we ran into a duo of trainers. Both girls one with blue hair and the other with red. The asked for a double battle, something that I had never done before but promptly agreed to, Evan agreeing to be my partner. I contemplated on using Leek or Chatter. Shelly, though younger than both of them, was stronger due to being actually trained.

The first pokemon that trainer chose sealed the deal, as I saw Heracross on the other side of the field. Though known for being incredibly strong with their fighting type affiliation, it was also a bug type making it even weaker to Leek's air based attacks. The red headed trainer sent out a geodude, which kind of wiped the smile off my face, even more so when I saw Evan send out his Mareep, Finese.

There was no official plan, but I took the initiative of trying to take out the Heracross first. I was hoping for the geodude to be a weaker and only know a small amount of attacks.

Leek and the Heracross took to the skies, while Finese and the Geodude stayed on the ground.

"Constance go, start with a night slash!" The blue headed female comanded her Heracross. With a speed that I hadn't seen before, the Heracross quickly flew towards Leek. Leek took the hit not so gracefully and began falling through the air. He managed to stop before hitting the ground. He harshly squawked and flew towards the Constance.

"Leek aerial ace!" I commanded hoping that the fool of a bird would actually listen. Much to my surprise he listened, rising up in the sky and then diving down towards and slamming into the Heracross. "Good job!" I congratulated, happy that he listened to me. "Keep on gaurd with furry cutter and continue attacking when there's an opening!" I commanded, he looked back at me, glared a little, but then nodded. He took off once again. Night slashes and fury cutters collided. Sparks flew in the air and booms of collision sounded through the air.

I turned my head to look at Evan's side of the battle. The geodude was a tank. He was immune to Finese's attacks, making her rely on physical attacks, which hardly penetrated the rock's defense.

"Iron tail Finese!" Evan called out. The fleece pokemon baaed in agreement. Her tail turned silver in color and rock hard. She swung at the geodude and slammed it into the rock pokemon. It was pushed back with a growl coming from his mouth. "Assist Leek with a shock wave on that Heracross!" A wave of blue electricity shot out at the Heracross. It met its mark perfectly and the Heracross went down. It got back up, but it was noticeably slower.

"Alright, Leek finish this with one more aerial ace!" That was all she wrote; Leek struck down hard on the Heracross and it went out. The Geodude was easily taken out with two more iron tails from Finese. They left, but not before giving us our proper earnings. I could easily tell that they were dissapointed, maybe a little pissed, as I heard the blue one growl about "damn type advantages."

We traveled for a little bit more, until we finally reached the next town, the route being pretty short. Glace town, unlike it's name was pretty warm. I remember being a little confused about that, but that was quickly put to the back of my mind as nervous feelings settled over, after I realized that that was the spot of my first gym battle. The three of us quickly checked into the pokemon center. It was average sized, but it was larger than the one in Persia town. The room was nicer, but the only draw back was a community shower.

"So plan of action? We still have some day light to burn." I asked.

"Obviously to help you train for this gym battle." Evan answered. "You should call Jon, he can give you some tips if you-"

"Or you could just ask me." Lucas cut in. I gave him a weird look, but he just looked down.

"Or I'll take advice from the both of you." I added, just a little bit confused. Lucas had seemed to have a small distaste for Jon eariler, but I didn't think that jealousy was there. "Anyway, I think training is a good idea, but let's relax for a little. I'm beat and I'm sure you guys are too."

* * *

After a well needed nap and lunch, Lucas and I were out on one of the training fields at the back of the PC. Evan said he was going to go visit one of the pokemon schools, they had one in every town, and see if they had any books on breeding he hadn't read. I focused on all of them pretty evenly I thought. I worked on Shelly,s speed because I had noticed she's incredibly slow. I worked on Nincada's attacking and evasion, since he was more of a heads on guy who didn't like to evade things, and I just plain worked on Leek's and my compatability. I could tell there was more respect towards me than usual, but he still had a tendency to ignore some of my commands.

"That was a good run. I'd say with two more days we should be ready to face the gym." I commented to my team and Lucas.

"Two more days?" Lucas questioned, while returning his Arcanine and Cleffa. "Why wait so long? You're team is more than ready."

"I don't know, I just feel like we need more time."

"And I'm telling you, you don't."

"Lucas, I'm glad you have confidence in me bu-"

"But nothing. How about this? Beat me, you can have your two days, but not you face the gym tomorrow." I gave him a shocked look.

"What? There's no way I'm gonna beat you. The only thing that I could possibly beat is Cleffa and even then you're experience could trounce me." I rebuttled.

"Eh whatever, manage to take out my other pokemon other than cleffa, how about that. I'll one of mine and you can use your three." I thought about this. Just taking out one pokemon couldn't be too hard right.

"I- I guess." I agreed.

"Well alright then." He walked himself to the other side. "On three release your first pokemon." I nodded and he began the countdown. "One, two, three."

"Chatter assistance." Chatter came out. His form already bigger and leaner than when I had first caught him. I could tell he was close to evolving, same as Shelly.

"Pangea, I choose you." He chuckled at the little saying used on a popular tv show about some dumb ass pokemon trainer.

When Lucas' pokemon was revealed I cowered internally and externally. On the other side of the field stood the largest pokemon I've ever seen in my life. It stood, greatly, greatly on four legs. It was brown and green and had a tree sticking out of its back. It was a shelled pokemon, showing off it's great defense, but I didn't for a minute doubt its offensive abilities.

"Mason meet my Torterra, Pangea." He said with a smirk.

"You tricked me you ass." I complained.

"Just start." I sulked to myself. I looked at Chatter. He looked more or less terrified of the massive beast in front of him.

"Chatter you still wanna go?" I was hoping for a no, but to my dispair, Chatter shook his head no and turned around with determination in his eyes. I gave him a small smile. "Alright! Chatter begin with a dig!" Chatter made a noise in agreement and quickly burried underground. Lucas decided to crush my dreams of a win right then and there with one simple word.

"Earthquake." With more speed than I could believe something of it's size could move, the grass, ground dual type hiked its leg up and slammed them on the ground.

"Chatter, raise up." It was a futile attempt. Halfway out of the ground was Chatter, but the move had been excuted. He was buried even further in hole, but the earth was moving ferociously. I tripped myself and I could hear the squeaks of pain from Chatter. Chatter was spit up from the ground, clearly down and out for the count. I sadly returned him and sent out Leek. When Leek saw the behemonth of a pokemon, he squawked in fear. "I know, I know, just try." He sent me an evil glare.

"Rock climb." Lucas said before I could send out a command. Pangea once again with blinding speed raised his front legs and slammed them. A great mountain sprouted up and slammed into Leek mid air. Pangea ran and then began climbing up the mountain.

"Leek fly away!" It was to no avail. Leek was already too disoriented to listen. The continent pokemon slammed into Leek and he fell down. I returned him before he could hit the ground. I hung my head in shame. Lucas managed to take out two of my pokemon and I hadn't landed a hit. I sent out my last pokemon, Shelly.

"Shelly look!" I pointed towards the giant pokemon. "If you don't want to-" Before I could even get the words out, Shelly sprinted onto the other side of the field. I looked at her confused. "Shelly what do you think you're doing?" I asked. Even Lucas looked a little confused. Shelly suddenly jumped into the air and her nub of an arm extended a little. She then began slapping the opponent in the face three times. My eyes extended, my jaw dropped, and I nearly peed myself. "Shelly that was amazing!" Granted the attack did nothing to Pangea, but just having the guts to do that.

"Wait? What?! Double slap is an attack that Shelly could only learn when she evol-" Lucas' statement was cut off when Shelly began glowing.

"Oh my god!" I said, jumping up and down in my spot. When Shelly grew a couple of more inches, sprouted three things on the side of her head and a tail the evolution was complete. Now instead of a small Happiny in front of me was a mid sized Chansey.

I ran to Shelly and crouched down and gave her a hug. She let out a squel and said the first thing since her evolution.

"Chansey!" I laughed.

"Let's finish this." I knew there was almost no way we were going to win, but her evolution gave me a new sense of pride. I ran back to my spot and looked over. Lucas had a huge smile on his face.

"Congratulations Shelly!" Chansey smiled over at Lucas and waved. "But this is still a battle."

"Alright Shelly Stance!" Shelly struck her fighting stance, her fists ready for battle. "Let's see what moves you got." I pulled out her pokedex and scanned through the move pool.

"Try Present!" Shelly reached into her pouch and pulled out the egg, yes a real egg this time, and threw it at Pangea. It exploded on impact and Pangea gave a grunt of discomfort. "Alright double slap!" Shelly ran, more like waddled, she lost some of her speed as I could tell she was getting used to her new body. She hopped in the air and slapped.

"Wood Hammer!" Lucas shouted.

"Counter." Shelly let the attack strike her but she was able to punch Pange in the snout. His face actually crashed into the ground. Shelly was out for the count, however, as a razor leaf came from the tree on Pangea's back. I was happy, though, how could I not be? I remember feeling really proud of her. I remember feeling really proud of all my pokemon. I felt closer to all of them, and I couldn't help but get a little emotional.

"That Shelly is no normal Chansey." Lucas said. "She's something special." I smiled.

"Yeah, I know, I know."

* * *

**Alright there's chapter 9 I believe, hopefully it is. I really hope you guys enjoyed the change of view. I know I enjoyed writing from it better, it'll probably stay this way...**


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